The Heart's a Battleground
by Drastic Fantastic
Summary: The tattered remains of Organization XIII set out to find an acquaintance that up and left years ago, only it's not clear whose side anyone is really on. AU with a vengeance.
1. Familiar Faces

**A/N:** A few things to cover before we get started. This is AU, with the Keyblade War happening _after_ the games instead of ten years before. Also, if the rapid chances in POV and style give you whiplash, sorry. Please keep in mind that this was co-written, as a role play, really. Attempts have been made to smooth things out.

**Disclaimer:** We don't own Kingdom Hearts. You knew that.

**To bring you up to speed:** Kyra was a maid employed by Organization XIII to keep their headquarters clean. Demyx made a deal with her that if she cleaned his room and clothes on the double, he'd take her anywhere she wanted for three days. They explored a few words and went to Twilight Town on the last day. On their way to the old mansion, they were surprised to discover Heartless instead of Nobodies romping around in the woods. Demyx was overpowered and Kyra's heart was taken. Demyx came around and went back to headquarters, and soon a blue-haired Nobody showed up as well as a shadow Heartless. The Nobody was named Karyx, and the heartless returned to its true form as Kyra.  


Seven years later... 

Blue eyes stared grimly at the floor. How long had it been? One year? Two years? Ah yes, seven years. Seven long years had passed since that Keyblade War had broken out. Men and women from all different sides, clashing with each other, not to mention the Organization and all other evils. Mostly they had been after the greater evils, trying to put a stop to the Heartless and Nobody attacks. The Organization had gone into hiding some time ago, finding this location a lot more secure. There were only a few members now, which meant their mission-rate success had increasingly dropped since there were not enough flunkies to pour in the hearts. Their Superior was still as mentally unstable as he usually was, not to mention their maid had run off. It was quite fun to smack her around every now and again. She ran off to go join that Keyblade War several years ago. Good riddance... he thought bitterly.

He picked up a dying rose in his hands, watching the petals slowly whither and fall off, gently touching the ground. Was that what was going to happen to them soon?

"Marluxia, get in here," the Superior replied bitterly over his nifty intercom he had set up, which meant he didn't have to remove his superior bottom from his superiorly comfortable chair.

"Fine," Marluxia had grunted to no one in particular, knowing that he could not just respond right back to the intercom. As he walked over, quickly but idly I might add, toward the office, he took a glance at Karyx. The girl had just been sitting there, staring at the wall with a blank stare on her face. Freak ... that's probably what he was thinking about now.

Marluxia had disappeared into the depths of the pie-smelling office, preparing to be yelled at tenfold to pick up some of the slack. He all ready had his earplugs ready for when that happened, not to mention noseplugs. The smell of pie was overwhelming and not in a good way either.

Karyx had kind of been, in a sense, heartbroken since Kyra had run off. Her own Somebody, gone. Kind of vanished off the face of the earth and not to mention her closest link to having a heart. She had come to terms with what she was and how things were going to be. It was hard being in this Organization and having your own standpoints. She didn't really approve of taking a heart from another just to add to an all-ready giant Kingdom Hearts. Though another side of her, the bad side, loved the feeling of snatching something so precious away. It was hard to tell whose side she was on sometimes.

Times were harder now and so, she considered this a challenge.

War. Was there anything so unsuited for Demyx? The Melodious Nocturne completely believed in _harmony_, can't we all just get along? Some called it cowardly, he called it pacifism. It sounded much less insulting. Kyra herself had gone off to join the war, the War o' Keyblades, which was releasing tons of hearts for the Organization's purpose, but it was still just a war. With Keyblades.

Kyra had only gone out to make something useful of her life, to prove that she had what it took to do something great. That and she wanted an excuse to wield a Keyblade. Duh...

Demyx shuddered. Karyx had the worst of it with Kyra gone, but Demyx didn't like the thought of her out there while there was warring and fighting and all that unpleasant stuff. He glanced at her, staring off into space, and waiting until Marluxia had left to spring a suggestion on her.

"Hey, why don't we go find her?" He said it lightly, casually, as though he were merely commenting that it would be a good time to go get lunch instead of, say, leaving the headquarters and safety, possibly against the Superior's will. He didn't specify who 'her' was. There was absolutely no reason to.

Karyx remained in her clueless daze, her knuckles resting firmly on her cheeks. 'Her'? What 'her' would he be referring to? It had finally dawned on her that the 'her' he spoke of was the one she had missed -- in a sense. I think that slow-mindedness had come from her Somebody. Normally Somebodies and Nobodies would be different in that aspect, but sometimes, they were a lot alike. "Her? Do you really propose that it's a good idea to bring her back? Especially with this war going on. It would be suicide to go out, unless instructed to do so." She spoke lightly, not really turning to face him. Yeah, she knew it. He liked 'her'. With or without a heart. Then again, she wanted to see if 'she' had made a worthy soldier of herself.

Demyx blustered. "Of _course _it's a good idea! She could get destroyed...AGAIN!" he cried, throwing up his hands and wiggling his fingers with anxiety. "Don't you want to know that she's safe and stuff?" He didn't believe that Karyx could want otherwise, and though he was all for self-preservation, it would ease his troubled mind to know that Kyra wasn't going to be struck dead. He further didn't want to believe that she was striking other things dead. He tried to imagine her with a keyblade, but it came out looking more like a glorified feather duster so he stopped, not wanting to offend her.

You could not offend what was not there, right? "Technically you let her get destroyed, thus creating me. So I don't see any problem with her being out on her own. Where was this worry when she first left?" Karyx spoke with no emotion whatsoever in her voice, as if she were a robot. That suited her quite well, to say the least. "I do know she's safe. She is part of me, just like I'm part of her. She doesn't go down without a fight." It was easy to talk good about yourself. It would've made this Nobody so proud if Kyra had killed many a people and lots of Heartless. It would just bring meaningless tears to her eyes, which meant a lot actually. It kind of excited her, in a sense, to see what she had been up to over the past five years. Hopefully lots were dead and Kyra was held responsible. Dementia had settled in a long time ago, I'm afraid.

Narrowing his eyes, Demyx shot to his feet, his hands curled into fists of stretched leather gloves pressed down by his sides. "Fine!" he said, picking his chin up haughtily. "If you won't help me, then I'll just go alone!" he declared, turning away dramatically. Then he waited, wishing he could see her through the back of his head and mullet, hoping that Karyx would relent and agree to go with him.

Karyx had, unfortunately, decided to get up off her comfortable seat she sat in for hours and shook her head. "I have to go. You cannot be trusted to be with her alone; you might kill her again." She snorted and gave him a playful shove into a portal of darkness she made. "Not to mention, you have now peaked my interest. I am intrigued to see what my dear Somebody has been up to." A creepy grin slowly spread across her face as she walked through the portal. Knowing how to successfully use a portal felt nice. The first several times she had tried, she almost ended up being drowned in Atlantica ... and eaten by Simba. Scary times.

With a strangled cry, Demyx stumbled into the portal and wrapped his arms around himself, looking around at the familiar looming mists and nothingness of darkness. "All right. Awesome. Progress. Where are we going?" He looked at Karyx, already labeling her as the leader of this expedition.

It had been his idea, but Demyx had never been a leader and was not really about to start. Ever. He was mostly able to ignore the jab about him killing Kyra again; that guilt had dulled with time. He wasn't even able to really feel guilty, anyway, but it was easy to get carried away with even pretend emotions. And Kyra had never really been mad at him about it, funnily enough.

She was too naive to be mad at him, not to mention happy and bubbly. So there was no reason for her to be mad at him for something he didn't mean to happen. It wasn't like he had killed her himself. Plus, she didn't die. She just became a foot tall and a cuddly toy for all five-year-olds.

Karyx had walked idly beside the Nocturne, cocking her head. "Where do you think we're going? Straight to the battle itself. The War wages in several different areas, but mostly it stays in one particular one. The others are just small, meaningless battles for fun. Kyra, assuming she's still alive, will have to be somewhere around here," the Nobody had said in a firm tone, knowing that poor Demyx would die out here alone, especially with all these Keyblade-wielders out here. It kind of posed the question as to how Kyra even got one, assuming once again, that she was alive, well, and had one.

As soon as they stepped out, she found herself in a barren wasteland, littered with bodies, blood, and God knows what else. There were only a few people here still alive and fighting against the myriad of Heartless. There was one soldier who particularly stood out amongst the rest. He had been atop the mountain, that just lie northeast of this place. The soldier looked like he could handle his own, being agile and quickly taking out the numerous targets and tasks thrown his way.

The person did not seem that tall, nor did they seem short. In the middle they were. From head to toe they were covered in armor, but not bulky, heavy armor. Useful, light armor that allowed fast movement for escape purposes. Several other soldiers were down below, fighting over the numbers that seemed to be endlessly growing and moving their way up. The figure brandished a large Keyblade, one that resembled the Kingdom Key. Karyx didn't really know; it was too far away to tell. Though this place was their best bet. "Let's hurry, find her, and leave. I don't feel like protecting you," she grinned.

Needless to say, the battlefield shocked Demyx. The bodies, the blood, the ruin, none of it was really his cup of tea. He was surprised to find that he had summoned his sitar, which was fairly noticeable among the nearly identical warriors, and though he had not yet strummed any chords he clutched it to him like his teddy bear, Thaddeus Informationdesk, and took comfort.

"Yeah, okay, let's find her," he said, wondering if they were just supposed to call out. Well, Kyra would doubtless recognize them, probably at least sensing Karyx's presence. Demyx followed each of the armored figures with his eyes, wondering which one of them could be her.

He spotted one that moved with a strange combination of slight hesitance and complete confidence, that stood and waited to be attacked instead of charging; blocking and countering harshly with a keyblade of dark silver, like the pure color had been coated with black paint. The prongs and the handle gleamed with an electric blue enamel that flashed and blurred as the wielder hacked at their enemies relentlessly. He didn't think that was Kyra.

Karyx had happened to side-glance over toward the Nocturne, rolling her eyes. She knew it was a bad idea to bring him along. What with their black coats on and his Sitar out, they were bound to be noticed. She mentally reminded herself that smacking him upside the head was not a good thing; even Kyra had told her that. Hmph, if only she knew how dumb he was. "Nocturne, I highly suggest you put that weapon away. Your weapon clashes amongst the Keyblades, so we'll be the next target if you continue to cling onto it for dear life." She deadpanned. They might as well just start jumping around like monkeys, while shouting "we're Nobodies, come and kill us"! Her eyes moved back up to that one soldier on the mountain, who looked as if he were staring straight at her. It was quite hard to tell from such a long distance away, but there could've been a slight possibility that the solider up there had been her Somebody. "Hm," she mused silently and stroked her chin in thought. If that was, then she had grown a lot. Though she really couldn't tell a lot. Inside, she kind of wished that Kyra would just greet them with her friendly smile all ready so they could leave.

The soldier atop the mountain had faltered in his movement, stumbling off the edge. With one hand he hung onto dear life, while the other swing about the massive weapon at the enemies pouring over. It was kind of like an action sequence.

It had taken a lot of effort, not to mention upper-body strength to lift one's self, especially with a hunk of metal in their hands. Karyx gave this soldier props for doing such a good job and not getting themselves killed. Pretty soon the solider had fought his way down the mountain, working to go help his comrades down below -- until Karyx and Demyx caught his eyes. They widened. Why? What were they -- how were they? Once again, he faltered and ended up getting dog piled on.

Too nervous to do anything but listen to Karyx, Demyx banished his sitar against his will. He grabbed his elbows in his hands, huddling his arms tight to his empty chest, and hoped that a Keyblade wasn't on its way to smite him. His gaze followed his companion's, and he cried out in alarm when the soldier was dog piled. After saving himself so brilliantly, only to end up under his enemies, was a cruel thing.

The soldier he had noticed before, who had not moved from a single point for much of the battle, now turned jerkily on the spot, facing the pile, and charged, swatting the enemies away with brutal hacks that were more meant for an ax than a Keyblade. Once the pile had been disbanded, the soldier planted their feet, rooting themselves to the spot again, going back into their defensive tactic.

Karyx stood in amusement now. It must've been nice to have people to watch your back, like this soldier did. He was quite lucky. When you're a Nobody, you're doomed to a life of nothing. At least when you're human, you have a chance of someone watching your back. Her arms were folded lazily across her chest, until her eyes shifted down to Demyx. "It's a shame we do not have popcorn or chairs." Her sense of humor was quite dry, so if she said something funny that was actually funny, no one would probably get it. Right about now, she had wanted to jump right in and just slaughter everything in her path. Though if she did that, she would chance hurting Kyra -- wherever she was. Where on earth was she anyway? Hadn't she noticed them?

The soldier had grunted and pushed himself up, quickly fumbling for the Keyblade. He nodded his head as a fast 'thank you' to the other soldier and stood up firmly. "I'll take out the ones down the mountain and help the others down below." His voice ended up being quite feminine, though not quite so. The helmet had muffled it some; from what you could hear, it had, indeed sounded feminine. With Keyblade in hand, he -- or well, I should say she now. She had charged, swatting all of the enemies in her path. Some took more effort than others, while some just disappeared with a quick glare. Truth be told, she wanted to check out the strangers. They seemed familiar, even if she couldn't be sure from this distance.

Breathing a sigh of relief when the soldier was freed, Demyx looked at Karyx. He didn't want to stay on the battlefield any longer than necessary; why were they just standing there, unarmed? "Shouldn't she have noticed us by now?" he asked her worriedly. "Maybe she's in another area, you said there were a bunch, right?" he didn't want to suggest that she might be one of the fallen. Never that.

"She'll come to us, don't you worry." Karyx had grinned and stared forward at the soldier, purposely not arming herself. Why draw unnecessary attention to yourself? "No, Demyx, she's here. I know it. It's just a matter of her getting to us in one piece." The Nobody had said with a slight smile, setting a hand on his shoulder. If worse came to worse, he could check the bodies. She'd enjoy it too much.

The soldier had broken through all the lines possible, swinging at one after another. Her arm was slowly growing sore, but she couldn't give up. Not after all this time she had been fighting to prove herself, not after all the pain and training she had endured. There was never an end!

It was like a person pep talk to keep one going, that much she figured. She ran as fast as she could, swatting again and again. To pretend like she had helped her comrades; she killed a useless Heartless standing dormant amongst the fighting. At least she had done her part. Then quickly she had started to run toward them, wondering what they were doing here. It was too dangerous for them… What were they thinking?

Those morons! She ought to just whack 'em with her blade!

She would come to them, huh? Demyx scanned the soldiers, his gaze returning to the first one. He was coming right at them! He, no, SHE! "There!" he cried, pointing and hurrying past Karyx. By her instructions, that had to be Kyra, and it never crossed his mind that maybe a soldier was just coming to destroy the Nobodies. There were a lot of Heartless around, and Demyx wanted to destroy them, but he was here for a reason. "Kyra! Hiiii, Kyra!" he waved, forgetting to be inconspicuous.

Karyx had immediately pulled a headpalm moment. Of course, the Nocturne had to go and blow his cover once again. He could never sit still like a good boy and obey orders. This was the reason why he never was allowed to go on missions with other people. She didn't have to move, she knew that Kyra would greet her too.

The soldier had continued to run straight back at the Nocturne, dragging her Keyblade against the ground. Sparks flew from every which way, creating a sound that was like metal-against-metal. She stopped about a good foot or so away from him, pointing the Keyblade right at his face. It almost gave Karyx the impression that Kyra, or this person, wanted to kill him. That was totally and completely fine by her. The Keyblade was then moved and thrust straight right above his shoulder, where a lanky Heartless stood. It then disappeared soon after, having just practically imploded in it's own special way. "You were never too good at watching your back, were you?"


	2. On the Battlefield

**Disclaimer:** We still don't own Kingdom Hearts. Anyone you don't recognize, however, probably belongs to one of us. :3

* * *

When the Keyblade was held in front of his face, Demyx halted, stunned. He hardly noticed when it was redirected to kill a Heartless behind him. For a moment he thought that Kyra was finally going to destroy him and take revenge for him letting her be turned into a Heartless. It still did not occur to him that he had the wrong person and that it was an enemy after all. He knew it was Kyra.

Her cheerful voice was noticeable, even through the armor. She had used her freehand to remove her helmet, shaking free strands of hair. A lot had changed about her in these five years she had been away. Her once long hair was short, all that was left had been barely hanging past her ears. It was required for all soldiers to cut their hair and keep it under control. Her face looked mature and her eyes still had that same innocent twinkle they had before, even if she was out here killing things. There had been a slight scar that poked out from the armor on her neck, though it wasn't noticeable. "So, what are you both doing here? Afraid your little Kyra isn't able to watch her back?" She mocked happily, holding the helmet firmly by her side while she leaned on the blade. They also doubled as walking sticks if you were lazy.

Over to the side, Karyx stood clapping. "Congratulations, you've impressed me." She smirked.

"Like I needed to impress you," Kyra shot back, grinning.

Kyra had changed, that came as a surprise. Nothings were Eternal, as Xemnas liked to say. Demyx still looked the same as the day he had come into his empty existence. Still boyish, still mulleted. He hadn't even wizened up over the years. And here was Kyra, all changed, from her physical features to the way she handled herself, even if she was still same old cheerful Kyra. Did he have trouble watching his back? Perhaps. Usually he would have water clones zipping around him while he concentrated on his sitar.

"Don't worry, I wasn't going to kill you. That's... far from my mind." Kyra had mumbled half of it, eyeing the current situation behind her. Her eyes then drifted back to the Nocturne, noticing that she was almost as tall as he was. Hey, that was pretty cool! She could remember that when she was only fourteen, he had been almost a giant compared to her. Perhaps not too exaggerated, but still. That was how she felt. "Why did you both even come here?" Even if she knew the answer, she still had to ask. If they wanted her to go back, she couldn't. Her home was here, helping out with this. They were so close to victory, she could just taste it.  
Her eyes almost remained glued to the scene behind her as her arm had begun to twitch. It had long such needed a rest from all this constant movement.

"You know why." Karyx had grunted, knowing where she was going with this. The girl was being dragged back, even if it was by her toes. No way she was going to let her Somebody stay here.

Demyx grinned. "Duh, place hasn't been cleaned in seven years. All right, we found you, let's go!" He grinned more widely to show he was just kidding. Well, kinda. He was Nobody-Elated, which was still pretty good in the scheme of things. Not even the battle raging around them could put a damper on his relief at finding Kyra undead. Well, not dead. Undead was something else, he reflected sternly.

He looked at Karyx. "You wanna open the portal, or should I?"

Kyra had bit her lip and dropped her helmet by her feet. "I'm sorry... I just can't go back with you. Here I'm actually doing something important; here I can prove my worth. Back there... I was mistreated and practically worked to death. Please understand," she whispered and dropped her Keyblade to the side, gently wrapping her arms around his neck in a sudden embrace.

Surprised, Demyx dropped his arms from in front of his chest but let them hang at his sides. He opened his mouth to speak, but only swallowed and released a shaky breath. He had never been so close to a heart, and there was one right there, through body and armor. Her strong heart.

"It's not that I hate you both, nor do I blame you for what happened to me. I just feel more useful here." Her voice was barely above a whisper as she spoke, doing her best not to cry. Her commander always told the soldiers that emotions were for babies; they were fighting a war here. There was no time to be emotional and falter -- that would just get other people killed. She was highly offended, quite glad that she did have emotions. But she bottled them all up once she joined. Five years of bottled-up emotions can't be good for a person. The tears slowly flooded her eyes, only to be blinked away. Her mind kept on uttering about not crying or causing a scene in front of them. They probably had never seen this side of her, but she wasn't too keen on them seeing this side of her either. They'd probably figure that she hadn't grown up in the least bit.

"Kyra...?" Karyx spoke calmly, in her usual robot-like tone. It was semi-shocking to see her Somebody acting this way. Who knew she felt that way? Definitely not she. Her eyes then shifted to the ground. Even if it meant getting her heart back, it wouldn't help if that heart were miserable. This was a hard decision right here. Then she stared at the Nocturne. If anyone asked, she blamed these emotions on Kyra, since her heart was right near her.

"Yeah," Demyx finally managed to say, not really knowing whether or not it was a coherent reply to anything that had been said. But within the Organization, Kyra was merely a maid. Here she was a skilled and contributing soldier. She felt worth something here. And even though Demyx wanted her to be safe from getting killed, he couldn't drag her back. And this was no place for Nobodies.

So this is goodbye then? The words wouldn't come out, and neither would the puzzled laughter at that discovery. He wondered if it would be possible to not leave, and not to stay, but just remain with that heart beating so close where he had nothing.

Kyra realized how selfish she sounded; knowing that he only wanted what was the best for her. But here, she felt it in her heart, was where she thought was best. "Don't worry, this won't be good-bye." Her voice had started to crack with each word in that sentence, until her words were completely incoherent. Those accursed tears were back for another bout, threatening to fall from her eyes. Kyra sucked it up the best she could, trying to get a hold of herself. Though no matter how much she tried, she ultimately failed. They fell anyway, with or without any consent from her. It took her a few moments to regain her composure, even if the tears still stained her cheeks. "I'm sorry I'm so selfish," she apologized spontaneously, breaking out of the hug and resting her hands on his shoulders. "I don't mean to worry you. I just wanted to show you... I'm ... grown up."

To put it bluntly, she had joined this whole thing to show him how strong she was -- not to mention to show the Superior how strong she was. Even if he refused to believe it, she was! "We'll meet again, we really will. If we met this time, there will be another." It was very hard to stay in control with everything being so hard to say and so hard to word. "Thank you for being there for me and for caring. I appreciate it." Some would wonder if she, herself, were bipolar. Karyx would seem to think so.

'If this is what it is meant to have a heart, then it might... seem nice,' Karyx thought as she watched the girl pour her heart, thankfully not literally, out to the Nocturne.

Demyx looked at Kyra with the blankness of a child that knows something is wrong but doesn't know how to react. Essentially, he was. Without emotions to rely on instinctively, the pretend personality he had built for himself did not have a standby expression to utilize. He glanced at her hands on his shoulders and his own hands twitched up before falling back to his sides, as though he had been attempting to draw her back against him. The space between them, boxed by chests and arms, was wide and cold.

Finally he cracked a smile, cocking his head to one side. "I know we'll meet again. You have a Nobody and you still came back after being a Heartless. After that, well," he couldn't quite bring himself to indicate the battle around them and said something slightly different than he planned, "anything should be a cake walk."

She had people watching her. And he had been impressed, too. She'd survived for seven years, and the war couldn't really go on that much longer, could it?

Could it?

"Don't worry! I'll even go and locate you to make things even." A smile stretched across her face as she stood there for a moment, just staring into his eyes. They told a lot about a person, as if you could stare right into their soul. His seemed innocent and rather confused right now, but she couldn't blame him. Times were tough. "I'm so happy I got to be able to know you, even if we got off to a rocky start." It was true. Before they were kind of enemies, constantly clashing. But now they were friends -- close friends, at that. "Good... bye." Those words still lingered in the air a few seconds after they were said. Quickly, and without even thinking, she pressed a two-second kiss to his lips, before grabbing her gear and running off. Those without hearts would never understand love... but she thought that for them to understand love, she had to give love.

Surprised, Demyx's eyes widened as Kyra kissed him, and he retained enough of his wits not to step away from the sudden movement. He watched her dumbly as she ran away from him, back onto the battle field. The kiss hadn't held the meaning for Demyx that it had for Kyra; still, it was nice.

Kyra had kind of bit her lip as she ran off back onto the battlefield, clumsily setting back on her helmet. She hadn't the foggiest of why she had done something so foolish, especially since it wouldn't have meant anything to him. She just hoped -- no prayed that someday he would be able to feel all the emotions that she was able to. It was also because she blamed her childhood crush on him, which had still lingered on, even through this. Clutching the Keyblade once more, she swiftly joined her fellow comrades in battle, who welcomed her with a fellow 'hey'. The oddball out just told her that she took forever, but even then, he was just joking. They were soldiers --friends, so even then were they entitled to joke around, even through the midst of this chaos and turmoil.

Karyx remained silent, unsure of what was going on. Sappy words were exchanged, good byes were exchanged, then... mouth-to-mouth? Yeah, that made a lot of sense. She supposed she would never understand her Somebody. Ever!

Demyx watched Kyra rejoin her comrades on the battlefield. He turned to Karyx.

"Is she braver than us?" he asked, a slight frown troubling his smooth face. "I mean, we just hide out while she's out there risking her life. We don't even _have lives_, really." He sounded sulky, bitter, frustrated. That fact was something he had never been able to swallow easily. "Shouldn't it be easy for us to just go out there?" Demyx raised his hands and clutched them to the sides of his head, pressing as though he could force his thoughts into order. They didn't have emotions. How could he be afraid? How could he have the desire for self-preservation? How could he be so concerned for Kyra's safety as well as his own? The line was too blurry for him to comprehend.

"No, she's not." Karyx retorted softly, which had been much unlike herself. "She is only risking her life to prove to everyone that she can take care of herself." They were once one, so she had known what to say. It was like a heart link, in a sense. Being so close to your Somebody in all, you would feel kind of odd. "We still do have lives. We live, we breathe, and we eat. That is living, is it not?" A grin softly crossed her lips as she set her hands on his shoulders. "Well, if you want to go on out there... then be my guest and get yourself killed." Not that she meant that. She just was merely toying with his mind - one of her all-too-favorite pastimes. "Hmph .. Ready to go now?" Yeah, she just got bored of standing there and being smart. There was a donut back at the castle that had her name on it - a chocolate donut. Unless the goldfish ate it, like on those commercials.

Demyx looked uneasily toward the battlefield. No, he had no desire to go down there. He had nothing to prove. "Existing, it's existing," he told Karyx just to be stubborn. Then he turned away, putting his back to the rampant chaos and closing his eyes briefly. He hoped Kyra was safe, and that anyone she cared about would also be safe. It was probably hard to lose a friend.

"Okay, let's go." His self-prescribed mission had been a failure. Hopefully the Superior wouldn't punish them in the form of eating some questionable pie. Or make him into a Dusk, but Demyx would take Dusk-dom over Superior Pie. Demyx opened the portal himself and stepped through. He was more than ready to leave, and did not even want to wait the few extra seconds it would have taken for Karyx to do it. Besides, what was that, waiting for others to open portals? He could be self-sufficient. "C'mon, Karyx, I'll need you to stand up to the Superior with me." Sometimes.

"Fine, fine," Karyx waved her hand, pretending to delete her own sentence or something. At least pass it by. "Existing heart. Happy?" She deadpanned, much too confused to really do much. With Kyra around, she always felt odd – like she did have a heart within the depths of her dark, cold chest cavities. Once he mentioned the word 'go', she was more than happy to exit too. There was too much chaos here, not that she did not enjoy it... she just wanted to go back and eat. It makes you wonder where he gets all his pies. Probably Boston Market or Wal-Mart... Idly the Nobody followed behind Demyx, seemingly humming an innocent tune after him. "Stand up? Heh, I'm not the one who dragged you out here all for the sake of finding someone who didn't need to be found."

Once again, the scenery went from doom and gloom, to the doom and gloom of the castle. Wasn't much of a change, was it? "Have fun?" Marluxia had just happened to be right there near the portal. He, however, didn't actually wait for them .. the portal just opened up beside him while he was reading something. Seriously, he wasn't a stalker. He was Plantman!

Demyx stumbled in surprise as Marluxia's unexpected voice met his ears. "Did we have fun? Uh, uh, yes?" he frowned; barely checking to be sure both he and Karyx were out before waving the portal quickly shut. "But enough about us, Marly, how have you been?" He laughed then, a high, conspicuous and guilty laughter. His eyes darted back and forth between Marluxia and Karyx, as if he hoped they would talk to each other and forget him.

"Lovely, so nice of you to ask," the Assassin droned, not really caring about how their day went. He had gently moved past them and summoned his own portal.

"Where do you think you're going?" Karyx sneered. Not like she cared, she just felt like being nosey.

"Out, on a mission... which any of you seldom do," Marluxia shot back and disappeared within the darkness. His portal left remnants of darkness, which had singed the ground.

"He's a real jerk." The blue-haired Nobody murmured, folding her arms across her chest. "So --" an evil grin spread across her face. "Are you planning your wedding yet?" She snickered, pulling on the Nocturne's cheek playfully.

"A real jerk," Demyx agreed, nodding and crossing his arms over his chest. "Marly's always mean to everyone... he doesn't deserve the name Marly! It's too good for him. Even though it's longer, I'll call him Marluxia," he vowed sternly, with Karyx as his witness. He raised his hand to really cement the deal, but found himself using it to swat her own hand away.

"No, I am not planning my wedding," he sulked. "But man, where's Marly-ugzia going? There's so few of us... I think it'd be better if we all knew what was going on." If Demyx were another person, he might have brought that matter to the Superior. But he wasn't, so he did not, and there was thankfully no pie involved.

"Right, Nocturne. Lengthen his name, it makes you sound so much more threatening." Karyx had sighed and almost grinned again as her hand was swatted away. "If you ever do get married, I'm being the flower girl. But instead of flowers, I'll chuck rocks. I think rocks are prettier." Flowers were too sissy for her. But still, teasing him after that mouth-to-mouth was going to be easy. Yes, she was evil, and she prided herself like that.

Her brown eyes then stared lazily at the ground. "I sadly sense impending doom."

Demyx scowled. "You can't throw rocks at my wedding. Because there will _be_ no wedding," he added smoothly, with a hint of snarky triumph. He sat down and kicked his legs against the front of the chair. Laying his arms on the armrests, his fingers tapped out a rhythm that coincided with the drumming of his heels. "Impending doom? What for? What now?" he asked, sighing. "I feel like... Well," he smiled sheepishly, starting over in the face of his little error, "I don't think it seems like we accomplished anything. Yeah, Kyra's..." He paused, swallowing, If he could blush, he would have been. "Safe. But she's still out there. She could have died the moment we left. I mean, I don't think she did, but what if she did, ya know?" he rambled on, still tapping with the fingers of one hand while the other hand clutched at the end of the armrest. He looked up at Karyx, expecting a kindly response. By now, he should have known better.

"I have a strong feeling that you don't want me to throw rocks at your wedding because you don't want it ruined." Karyx had said in one quick breath, mustering an overly large grin as she got in his face. If he was looking for comforting, he really turned to the wrong person. Xemnas could be more comforting - heck a shoe could be more comforting. "I just have this feeling like something bad is going to happen. Then again, my middle name is Demented."

She snickered and then patted his head some. "Don't worry, Kyra'll be good. She's strong and all that crap .. So yeah, I'm going to go get a snack. You just don't think too hard now." The blunette mocked and stalked off toward the kitchen, humming a rather eerie tune. Her idea of fun was more or less being cruel to at least one person.

Before she left entirely, her brown eyes had glanced back at him. They softened some.  
Poor kid. In a way, she kind of felt sorry for him. If feeling were possible. He probably did want a heart, probably more than anything. It was hard for them; it also seemed impossible to actually achieve a heart. If you were born without one, could you really obtain one so easily? She doubted very much so. It had seemed that in her quest to find food, she had gotten off track and lost deep in thought. Her facial expression wasn't the best -- the cross between a demented smile and an almost-sneeze type of look. Thinking and her weren't really a good combo sometimes.

"There won't be a wedding," Demyx repeated, staring at the floor a few yards in front of him and stilling his movements. He used his deep, serious voice, used rarely and heard less. That ratio increased, as Karyx was gone. Gritting his teeth in frustration, Demyx heaved himself to his feet. There was only one thing that would lift his spirits now.

Saïx puppies!

Already smiling, Demyx glanced around for followers before stealing off to the secret room where the demented puppies roamed in limited freedom. Demyx couldn't wonder about the paradox of limited freedom, because he had thought of the word 'Demented' and was too busy wondering what Karyx's last name was, or why she even had a middle name. Did the Superior decide they were to have middle names, now? And if so, why wasn't he, Demyx, notified? Did the Superior like Karyx better? Demyx stumbled as he gasped over this insane possibility. Inconceivable! As soon as he caught his balance he set off at a sprint for the secret room. He needed some serious puppy time.


	3. Botched Mission

**Disclaimer:** We still don't own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters in it. Anyone you don't recognise probably belongs to one of us. This chapter is longer than the other two combined, just to warn ya.

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Kyra glanced back once more to where Demyx and Karyx had stood only to find remnants of the portal they used. Her eyes narrowed slightly, though it was hardly -- actually, not at all noticeable -- with the helmet on. They had all the luck. Being Heartless was probably the best thing to be during these times.  
You could easily deal with the hardships of life without a single emotion. True, even if emotion did make you human, it did have its disadvantages. Too many people she cared for were lost already, so who's to say she could handle another? Gripping her Keyblade tightly, she bound right into action, slashing at the Heartless in such a frightful way. 

Kyra had fought a couple of more Heartless, finally feeling the effects of the days without sleep. It was hard to settle into camp with Heartless running about. They didn't need to risk neither unnecessary hearts nor lives. Their squadron leader called them in, knowing the Heartless were at bay for now. "Soldiers!" he yelled over the chaos, wanting to tell his findings to the others. It was time to put his plans into action.

"I've found out that Organization XIII has moved underground. They're weak; they have only a few members. I say we sneak in and destroy them and Kingdom Hearts," the man said, removing his helmet and lying out the plans. Some other person had sketched out the map to where he thought it was.

Kyra gulped, knowing this wasn't good. If she showed her allegiance to the Organization, she'd be killed for treason. If she didn't do anything, Demyx and Karyx would be killed. Xemnas and Marluxia could go for all she cared.

"U-uh," she piped up, staring long and hard at the paper. "Sir, what if this is not trustworthy information? What if this man just thought he found it? They're merely rumors."

"I do realize it could be a trap, but we have to check it out. If we do find out it's the base; we can easily infiltrate it and destroy it. There were too many hearts sacrificed. I'm sure Kingdom Hearts is at its peak." The man retorted, obviously wanting to check this out. "I'll send two to scout it out; then we'll see how it goes."

"I-I'll volunteer to go. Sir!" Kyra saluted him, hoping he would choose to let her go. She had to warn them, she just had to.

"You sure are a devoted soldier." The man smiled, though it wasn't visible. Returning the salute, he stared around to find another worthy soldier. "You --" he said and pointed his finger toward them. "I would like you to join her." His finger, or Keyblade rather, was pointed toward the soldier with the enamel blue Keyblade, Caeda.

Caeda grinned at the thought of getting to Organization XIII, to stop them from their ghastly collecting of hearts. Even though their numbers were smaller, the Org would still be powerful. But when someone nudged her, letting her know that she had been chosen to go with Kyra, Caeda didn't balk, despite the fact that she would make a terrible scout. The commander must have chosen randomly and not had her 'condition' in mind.

"All right, all right, when do we leave?" she asked, resting her Keyblade over her shoulder. "As long as Kyra's leading the way, I'll gladly follow."

Of course the commander hadn't noticed that she was blind. He was expecting all of his soldiers to be in tip-top shape -- in excellent condition! Same went for training-wise and whatnot. So he didn't really know. The helmet probably helped.

Caeda's secret to success in the military was simply dumb luck and stubborn fate. She'd lived her life proudly boasting that she could still do everything just as well without that superfluous sense called sight (although she had enough scientific knowledge to know that human sensory systems were dominantly sight based) until she'd been challenged to enlist herself to go and fight the Keyblade War. She had balked, wheedled, manipulated, stalled, and pulled every trick she knew to get out of it and still save face, but to no avail. While no one really expected her to go through with it, Caeda was too foolishly stubborn to let her pride take a fall–even if it might be her life that was ruined instead. She trained hard, praying that none of her other senses would fail her. Training had been a nightmare, but nothing could compare to her first time in actual battle. Her armor was thicker (and also heavier) because the best compensating tactic she'd been able to come up with was to let her enemy get the first hit before she counter attacked. The heaviness wasn't a problem, as she usually stayed in one spot to allow herself to grow familiar with her surroundings.

And now the commander had singled her out to go with Kyra on this mission. She trusted Kyra, and the plan that the commander laid out in excruciating detail would be easy enough to commit to memory. Caeda would have preferred to get her hands on a copy of the map with raised lines that she could run her bare fingers– still un-callused and sensitive despite the constant Keyblade wielding– over and get her own view of the layout. But she didn't think there would be time. She'd just have to wing it as always, and hope that everything turned out okay.

Neatly flattening out the map once again, due to his Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, he grinned at the perfection. "All right, it's time for a battle strategy." Thus began the long boring strategy, which Kyra had to sadly endure. She knew what she had to do. Run in there like a fool and chuck Demyx and Karyx into a portal that led to the most remote part of the world. That would solve anything. They'd be fine without hearts; it wasn't like they were going to get any anyway. Xemnas was just a senile fool who used people to get his own way. His pride got in the way, so he could never talk about it. Only those close to him -- A.K.A his flunkies - knew about who he truly was. Though most were blinded by their own desires, so they did not exactly see what was hidden behind his false words.

Slowly Kyra had stalked off, holding the map tightly in her hands. The roads were barren, and God only knows how they got there so fast. She assumed the gummi technology was just that good - so does the writer. As her eyes searched the area, which hadn't been familiar at all, she started to pray silently to herself. Praying that this wasn't the right place, praying that this was a big mistake and that nothing would be found. Somehow they had found their way into a large area, which had a makeshift castle in it. It wasn't in the best of shapes, more or less fitting in with the surrounding area. Getting here seemed easy, much too easy. Just as she thought this, a group of Nobodies had shown up. Well, Dusks to be more precise.

Kyra just hoped that the other wasn't too familiar with Nobodies. She was, however, considering she grew up with them flittering around the place.

They had stood there and shifted to and fro, moving as if their bodies lacked the proper bone structure to give them normal movement. Brandishing her Keyblade, she had quickly moved at them. If they stayed silent, the other might just not know about them being there. They were pretty much easy to take out. Knock out on here, kick another one there. A few of them brought back memories though, despite their annoying presence. Once they were vanquished, another set had come up. This time, they were bigger and badder.

"Craaap, I forgot." The woman sighed, watching them.

"I hate you Demyx .." She just disliked the fact that some of the Nobodies were dancers. I mean, they went with him. It was hard to figure out which lesser Nobody went with whom, but she figured it out. It took her a week – okay, I lied! It took months.

"Um... hey, I think we have a fight on our hands."

Caeda had heard the arrival of the Nobodies. Their arrival from darkness sounded like boiling or running water against thin metal, and soon she heard Kyra trying to be surreptitious as she took the enemies out. Waiting patiently for some sort of signal, Caeda readied herself as the sound of more enemies arriving reached her ears. She could tell they weren't Heartless, and though she'd never faced a Nobody before, since the mission was about Organization XIII, she figured that was what they were up against now.

"Yup," Caeda replied to Kyra, and the way she said it sounded more like 'yacht.' "Why do you hate Demyx? Isn't he one of– well, I guess you can answer later." Caeda would need her full concentration if she had to fight, and didn't want to clutter up her hearing with talk. She tried to remember anything she'd heard about combating Nobodies. Vaguely she recalled something about them being vulnerable right after a counter-attack, or something. Caeda hoped that was it. She relied on the counter-attack. She knew she could count on Kyra, too, but she wondered how close to their destination they were. Running into a lot of enemies was not something she wanted to do right away.

Kyra skillfully took out several of the dancers, unleashing more and more resentment and rage out upon them. "Huh?" The woman turned her head for a moment, too caught up with what Caeda had said. She really shouldn't have mentioned anything about Demyx. Even if they had been in battle for a while, the other could've figured her to be a traitor. She had lost her bearings for a moment, biting down hard on her lip. "Demyx? Well, I just hate him because he's a part of the Organization." She lied, obviously forgetting that she was clogging up Caeda's hearing. "You know, they're all jerks for what they're doing. And I can't wait until I kill them all." It had sounded quite sincere, which shook her a bit. Did she really want to kill them - the same people she had spent most of her miserable life with? Perhaps Marluxia and Xemnas, but not Karyx and Demyx. Or did she? Was her resentment toward them so large that she actually wanted to rid the world of them? Being caught off guard, a Nobody took its chance and knocked her over.

With its weapon brandished, it went for the kill. Kyra had let a small squeal escape her lips as she put out her Keyblade, somehow ending up spearing it. Dumb luck was all it was - dumb luck was really the only thing that had kept her alive all these years. Being quite disgruntled, she had killed each and every Nobody around with much rage. She was just so angry right now; she felt all the emotion pent up in her just about to explode at this precise moment. "I HATE YOU ALL, YOU HEAR ME?" Her voice echoed through the desolate place, shocking her some as she heard it again. Grunting, she quickly stomped toward the door and started to hit it hard with her foot. The first three times it made a hallow sound and after that, it had begun to sound as if it were about to break. Why bother use the door handle? Everyone knows that to make it more action-packed, you always kick down the door. She ignored everything else and continued to kick the door, obviously forgetting about everything. That probably could've gotten them in a bad situation.

After Kyra's outburst and the defeat of the Nobodies, Caeda took a moment to ponder and realized with sinking spirits that she was following an insane person into the heart of the enemy. The enemies with no hearts. Which were not called Heartless, but Nobodies. Before Caeda could really get into Deep thought over the whole matter, she decided the best thing she could do would be to keep following. Kyra was in the process of barging in, yelling, calling attention to herself, and many other things Caeda was sure had been No-nos in accordance with the plan.

"Hey, Kyra," she called, hurrying up to stand beside her comrade, "wanna keep it down? Your passion is admirable, but, I'm not gonna lie, you're being pretty stupid." Caeda awarded herself zero points for diplomacy and tried again. "Look, we can't just go nuts and expect anger to be able to take down the rest of Organization XIII. It worked for the lesser Nobodies, but besides some reports we're not really sure what these guys are capable of. We should take it easy, maybe fall back and regroup."

She wasn't insane, to be honest. People just thought she was. "I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT THEY ARE CAPABLE OF!" Kyra had yelled like she was really a demented person, clutching her Keyblade hard in her hand. If it wasn't made out of sturdy steel and God knows what else, it probably would've been crushed right then and there. Though she quite needed it at this moment. "Heh, you have no idea, do you?" She mumbled, narrowing her eyes at Caeda. "You just have no idea, do you?" The woman reiterated, shaking her head some. "I know exactly what they are capable of. Exactly! Right down to their weaknesses. I mean, heh, I practically lived with those losers for three years." A grin then crossed her lips. "But don't take me as a traitor now, because I'm not. I just want some simple revenge. They have something I want -- something I need to continue on with this war. What better way to obtain it from them than kill them all on the spot?" She had laughed some, obviously showing her slowly losing her sanity. After watching all those deaths, after being cooped up for a good sum of her life, of course she was going to be a little insane.

Right when Caeda thought she was starting to pick up a persuasive momentum, the abused door was flung open from the inside. Demyx, with one hand on the door and his other arm encircling a Saix puppy, recoiled at the sight of the two Keyblade warriors and quickly slammed the door shut again, yelling for the other members.

"Uh, what just happened?" Caeda asked.

As soon as the Nocturne opened up the door, Kyra's eyes shifted to him. "Retard... When someone is kicking down the door, you don't open it!" That was when she took her Keyblade and slammed it into the door again and again. Until there was a good-sized hole in it. A big enough hole for her to climb through. "The maid is back..." Kyra had laughed, disturbing Karyx from the other side. She had heard the kicking and knocking, obviously taking it that the soldiers had found their hiding place. Not a good thing.

"Demyx, get out of here now. Tell the Superior. I'll take care of them." Karyx jerked her thumb over toward Caeda and Kyra. "Man, girl, you really did lose your mind didn't you? Why not just come help us. What with you losing your sanity, I'm sure you'd be fine." The bluenette smirked. "And Demyx, get the puppies out too. They're just too derned cute to lose." Indeed, the bluenette called something cute.

"Shut up, I'm not joining you. Now where is Marluxia? I've waited a looong time to wipe that smirk off his face," Kyra retorted in a yell, throwing off her helmet to the other side of the place. It hit the ground with a 'thunk' and rolled off until a certain feminine-esc boot stopped it.

"Aw, you want to wipe that smirk off my face? How quaint," the voice had called, turning out to be the infamous Marluxia. "Didn't you learn anything from staying with us? Heh." His eyes narrowed as he summoned his scythe. He doubted Kyra could do much against him, but he had to summon his scythe just incase. Merely to show her, her place. To show her she wasn't as powerful as she thought she was.

"You really don't need to yell," Caeda muttered uselessly. Kyra wasn't listening to her. Caeda was listening to Kyra, and learning some pretty shocking things. Kyra had lived with Organization XIII? And not volunteered any information to the Keyblade troops? What were her real motivations for coming on this mission? Caeda wondered if Kyra even knew anymore. Reaching forward to grab Kyra's arm and haul her away with force, Caeda froze as the door opened again and two unwelcome voices heralded the failure of a stealthy mission. Licking her lips out of a nervous habit as her mind raced with fantastical solutions, Caeda continued to listen and gather information and fit all the pieces together to make some sense of the mission gone wrong. She identified Marluxia by name and voice, and figured the female to be Karyx. Demyx was with the puppies. Wait! Organization XIII had puppies?

No. That wasn't the question Caeda had been about to ask herself. That was...

Kyra had a Nobody?

'Wow, I'm in way over my head,' she thought grimly. Kyra was about to take on Marluxia. Caeda thought Kyra had a chance, knowing the other to possess considerable battle prowess and knowledge of Marluxia's style. But Caeda was a sitting duck. Well, there was always a way out. She'd just have to be ready for it.

Demyx stood and watched Kyra knock a hole in the door and then climb through it, frowning. Kyra had seemed so...not Karyx-y just the little while ago that they went to find her. Still, he didn't see why he had to run and take the puppies to safety. Kyra wouldn't hurt the puppies, she loved them! Then again, as far as Demyx knew, she'd never wanted to kill Marluxia before.

"You go tell the Superior," he shot back snidely. "Since he likes you sooo much better, Karyx Demented Somethingorother!" The Saix puppy yipped in assent. Demyx nodded and peered out the hole in the door. There was another armored person standing out there. Or maybe it was a statue. It was awfully still. Well, that wasn't his problem. Someone else could take care of the statue invader. Right now, Kyra was actin' funny.

"Kyra," said Demyx, edging forward and putting on a look of concern, "Kyra, what's wrong? Why do you want to... kill us?" He swallowed, not being a fan of getting killed. "Last time I saw you, you didn't seem like you wanted to kill me." He stepped closer, taking timid steps until he was close enough to reach across her, putting his arm between her and Marluxia, and lay his hand on the armor covering her upper arm. He hoped she would not attack him. He was holding a puppy, not his sitar, and he didn't know if he could really bring himself to fight Kyra anyway.

Karyx had simply eyed Caeda, smirking some. She would be an easy one to take out. It'd be quick and painless but then again, Kyra would be upset. Hm. "My middle name is not Demented, you retarded, mullet-headed fool. I don't have a last name, or middle name. So I suggest you back off and do what I tell you to." The bluenette had sneered evilly and placed her hands on her hips. If he wanted to go and get himself killed by the enraged maid, he could just go and do that. Her darkened brown eyes then shifted over toward where the Superior should've been located. "I'll go warn the fat lard... you just... never mind. Have fun, Marlu," she called in a semi-flirty voice, really not meaning to be so. He was just an attractive girlie man with a scythe, lawl. With a quick motion of her hand, she summoned a portal and disappeared into the black and blue darkness that swirled about in rather dizzy fashion.

Kyra had stared long and hard at the Nocturne, watching him get closer and closer. Her face had lost all emotion as she watched him put his hand on the armor covering her arm. "I'm entitled to my revenge." She snorted, saying that as if they all needed to perish. "You all have something I want, so maybe... maybe if I get rid of you all, I might just get that satisfaction." She smiled, an almost pathetic smile, placing a hand on her head. "You wouldn't understand though... with or without a heart." Slowly she lifted the Keyblade until she had a perfect view of it, admiring the way it glistened under the dimly lit bulb.

"Demyx, move..." Marluxia had muttered and stared at the Nocturne. "She wants to defy us, so let me teach her a lesson. So MOVE!" His voice boomed with anger as he stared at both of them, then to the blind soldier.

"You dumb girl... You really think you can actually kill us? All of us? You are sadly mistaken. There may be only a handful left, but we survived because we were strong." The Assassin snorted, staring at everyone with a rather annoyed look.

Caeda turned her head toward Marluxia's voice and rested the tip of her Keyblade on the ground. Behind the mask of her helmet she was grinning widely, the grin of someone with all the odds against them that may or may not have been about to break into hysterics. Luckily Caeda was fairly good at keeping calm, or at least seeming it. "Yeah? I survived the same way." She had no clue whether or not she could actually defeat any of them. But she had nothing but cockiness to fall back on. It wasn't as though she would get off any better by admitting there was little hope.

Demyx glanced at Marluxia. "Don't tell me what to do, Eleven," he ordered coldly. He crouched slightly and set his only safety on the ground, and did not wait to watch the puppy trot away with uninhibited happiness. It had been a comfort to hold it, but he felt more relieved to have his hand free.

"What revenge, Kyra? What do we have that you want?" Did she want to merge with Karyx? That would probably solve a lot of problems, but Karyx would be sure to cause more before she went. "Come on, maybe I won't understand. But you can at least try. Anything is better than destroying each other, right?" He pulled at her shoulder, trying to get her to turn toward him. "What happened to the Kyra who was proving her strength to herself? This isn't what you want to do." Her Keyblade was really freaking him out. Nobodies and Keyblades didn't tend to mix, unless one was Roxas, which he wasn't. He didn't want Kyra to be a threat to him. That wasn't right at all.

Marluxia had stared straight at Caeda, narrowing his eyes at her. How could one act so cocky in the presence of his greatness? Perhaps that was a little cocky in itself, but he was powerful. He wouldn't have survived all these years if he weren't strong. "Don't call me by number. You, despite being a higher rank, are the weakest among us." He had moved gracefully and went straight for the blind girl, just wanting to kill something. If Demyx wouldn't move and let him get to Kyra, he would just have to prompt her to knock the Nocturne over to save her friend or something. With scythe extended, he went straight into an attack mode.

"You lack... hearts." Kyra's voice sounded almost like a whisper, barely audible with all the noise in the room A.K.A Marluxia's ranting.

"You should really consider yourself lucky that I don't want to destroy you..." The redhead snapped and smacked his hand away, shoving him back hard. "Don't touch me! I know what I want to do. I'll be able to prove myself better if I kill at least two of you." That wicked grin had somehow managed to cross her lips once again as she jumped back and lunged her Keyblade toward the Assassin. He shouldn't think too highly of himself -- that would be his downfall. "You really think she's that stupid? Do you really think I'm that stupid? Seriously, we didn't survive this whole time on dumb luck alone. We both have skills." She snickered and hoped to catch him off guard.

Demyx flinched as Kyra smacked his hand away. Now he knew where Karyx got it from. He wasn't about to try and stop her from protecting her friend, especially against Marluxia. Demyx didn't mind the other Nobody one way or the other, but he didn't really want anyone destroyed. Summoning his sitar, Demyx formed some water clones in preparation. He didn't have a clue how Kyra could prove herself better by killing them. 'Better' must not apply to the regard of the Organization, then. Maybe it was to her new soldier friends. Kill Organization XIII and be a real hero. "Aww, maaaan," he groaned, then sighed, and waited for Karyx to come back with the Superior. One of them might have a solution. And it had better not be pie, because Demyx thought it was a little too late for that.

Caeda knew very little magic, and since she couldn't aim none of it was offensive. A clear, faceted sphere rose around her as the all-too familiar sense that she was being rushed shivered up her spine. With Heartless, this was usually followed by the sound of them or their attack thunking off of the shield, but she knew Marluxia wouldn't be that mindless. Her best hope was that Kyra killed him first. The next best thing she could think of was the protective wind spell, which she liked because she could feel it when it was disturbed. Flexing her fingers on the handle of her Keyblade, Caeda made sure she was breathing and not about to faint before she dropped one spell and replaced it with another and prepared to battle a member of Organization XIII.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: We don't own Kingdom Hearts. Still. Anyone you don't recognise probably belongs to one of us. If you've gotten this far, we would really love it if you'd drop us a review. :)

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Marluxia had only pretended to go straight for the shield, knowing that ramming into it wouldn't be the best of ideas. He had then swiftly moved aside, watching a dumbfounded Kyra fall past him. And of course, she rammed right into the shield. Without her helmet, it had hurt... a lot. What retarded impulse even possessed her to remove it? After slamming against it, her Keyblade had also smacked straight into her nose and it felt broken. It probably wasn't, considering she tended to be a drama queen, but she claimed it was. "Heh, you both are foolish. Then again, you can continue to fight like this. It'll make things easier." It was a good thing the shield had been dropped.

So had the redhead. She had lay on the floor, right flat on her face, before jumping up. "You jerk!" The teenager had been so pissed that she had forgotten to think things through and just jumped blindly (no offense to Caeda) into the battle. Their teamwork skills obviously... lacked.

Surprised by her quick speed and not-so-smart attitude, Marluxia used his scythe to guard. "You fight like my grandma... Or even worse, Demyx." He mocked and moved around her, putting the scythe near her neck, only to get a leg full of Keyblade. He hadn't known how it happened, he only knew that it had. It had pierced his leg all right, which had him staring at it in surprise.

"Hah, got you. Now who fights like a grandma now?" Kyra had teased back with too cocky of a grin, leaning on her Keyblade, which pressed further into his leg. Some blood rushed out of the wound as he pulled his leg out, stumbling backward rather ungracefully. Then in an astonishing amount of speed, ended up behind her with the scythe piercing her armor, then her arm. Kyra gasped out loud, staring down. Okay, so an eye-for-an-eye, eh? That was fair. She pulled out the scythe and kicked his injured leg, quickly stumbling backward all the while holding her arm. Perhaps she should've had a plan before coming in here?

Seconds later, Karyx had returned with All-Mighty Pielad behind her. He was baffled by all the blood on the ground, staring confusedly at Marluxia, then to Kyra.

"So why did I come down from the safety of my office again?" Xemnas asked boredly.

"To help?" Karyx reminded him with a growl. "So put your Mansex self in there and help!"

"I despise that nickname." He grumbled, eyeing the Nocturne. "You have Marluxia and Demyx. You're good." He mumbled and walked off with a pie in hand. Why on earth would he even dare risk his neck for these fools? They were under his control, not the other way around. "Good luck," Mansex said with a bored tone, escaping into a portal.

Something /had/ bounced off her shield right before she dropped it, and it did not take much for Caeda to realize it had been Kyra. Hooboy. But she must be okay, since she'd managed to wound Marluxia. Battle had distinct sounds, and Caeda knew them all well. What little information she had on Marluxia raced through her mind. Scythe. That meant he had a long reach. He was /so/ not her ideal opponent. So what, was she supposed to just sit there uselessly? Caeda growled. To her, being useless was the worst thing of all. She would rather die. And that prompted her to move forward. A blurry schematic of the positions of Kyra and Marluxia was in her mind, and she knew that Marluxia was wounded. As long as she didn't hit Kyra. Caeda's jaw clenched in preparation for the pain. Besides being blind, Caeda also had an astonishingly low threshold for pain. She was not meant to be in a war, not meant to be sent against Organization XIII. But she could keep a clear head in most situations, and right now her plan was simple and the same one that had been working for her this long. Let him hit her.

Demyx was dumbstruck. His mouth hung open and he cringed as both Kyra and Marluxia injured each other. This was insane! And the Superior had not been any help at all, which should not have surprised Demyx but did.

"Marluxia, we don't have grandmas!" he called out helpfully, then berated himself for being such a fool. Time to spring into action!

"Karyx, stop them!" he pleaded. "She won't listen to me, and she's /your/ Other, you should know how to calm her down!" Then he realized that seeing Kyra this way probably satisfied Karyx in some strange way. "You know what?" he rounded on the other Nobody, "if I hadn't been unable to protect Kyra, you wouldn't even be here! I named you and everything! I'm like your dad. And as your dad, I want you to make them stop!" He flung one pointed finger at Kyra and Marluxia. When he looked back, the other soldier was lunging into the fray. What if they really killed Marluxia? He was a jerk, but Demyx didn't want him to fade. If Marluxia fell, the soldiers might turn on /him/ and then where would he be?

Escaping into a portal, that's where.

Karyx had given Demyx the most deathly death glare she could muster, rolling her eyes. "You are most certainly not my dad, you never will be. Kyra may be my other, buuut--" she had stopped herself, grinning widely. It was one of those spine-chilling grins that made little children scream in fright. With one quick motion, she whipped out her mace. The silver handle glinted as she moved gracefully into action. Her blue hair had moved along with her, whipping across her face as she smirked. The mace was quickly thrust into the nearest body as a scream escaped their lips. The blood-curdling scream pierced the ears of everyone near. Marluxia had crumpled to his knees, clutching his chest as the blood gushed out.

"T-traitor!" The Assassin muttered lowly, as the bluenette gave him a smile.

"You shouldn't have messed with my other." Then she stepped off, placing a hand on Caeda's head.

"Yo, don't hurt yourself. I killed pinky, so it's all good. I hated his guts and I so wanted to do that." With a grin, she gave Caeda a tiny shove, then back over to Marluxia. "How does it feel to be betrayed?"

Marluxia sneered, unable to really form a proper sentence. His body had begun to fade away, until he had left a giant blood stain on the floor. Karyx enjoyed the look on his face as she disappeared. "There," she said boredly.

Kyra sat there, flabbergasted. Her armor had been splattered by Marluxia's blood, which sickened her. "K-Karyx?" Her Nobody really stuck up for her? Wow! She had clutched her arm even tighter, shifting her eyes to Demyx and giving him a soft look. He would probably be mad, heck she was too. She risked the life of Caeda and herself! Suddenly she fell to her knees and hugged tightly onto her arms. Again, another emotional breakdown. Though this tme she held in her tears. Karyx stared at her, rolling her eyes. Her Somebody was /too/ emotional sometimes.

Meanwhile, Xemnas had loaded the Saix puppies into his portal. He picked up the straggler pup and sighed. "Come on, pups. We will find a new place .. It shall be our eutopia!" Once he got a lick to his face, he chucked the puppy in. "I'll make sure to feed you to my pet alligators ... Once I get them."

Caeda froze as she felt the weight of Karyx's hand on her forehead. Though Karyx had just saved her, Caeda did not feel safe in the slightest. Traitors were far more dangerous. The only thing that stopped Caeda from lashing out at Karyx at such a close range was the fact that she was Kyra's Nobody, and it seemed wrong, somehow.

"Thanks," she murmured, not allowing herself to relax. She probably couldn't have if she wanted to.

"You killed him!" Demyx exclaimed, staring at Karyx. "I can't believe you really killed him!"

Unconciously, he edged backward, grimacing. Then he set his water clones on the three women, where they lost their shape and splashed. He didn't stay to watch it, but opened a portal and jumped through, sealing it quickly while he made his escape. Marluxia was gone, and he wasn't staying with Karyx. There was no point in remaining with the Organization– The puppies! Demyx made a quick stop in their room and found that they were gone. Nabbed! Mourning anew, Demyx stepped back into the portal and ran through the swirling depths to find a place where he could be safe.

Demyx hadn't wanted to be too predictable in his choice of hiding place, but when he couldn't shake the world from his mind, he decided to give in and go there. Maybe, if he was being searched for, his pursuers would think he wouldn't go somewhere obvious. Or maybe they would think he would go somewhere obvious anyway. Or maybe they would think he would want to go somewhere obvious, knowing that they would think he chose the obvious place when really he chose the unobious place, which they would conclude, when he would really be in the obvious place.

"Ya think?" he asked the dolphin, concerned. The dophin smiled and flipped over in the water and swam away, leaving a small current that pulled at Demyx's new tail fins briefly. "Awesome, thanks for your help!" he called, waving. Then, he looked around and swam aimlessly. So Kyra wanted him dead, and he still didn't know why. And he though /Karyx/ was bipolar. Well, Karyx was Kyra's Nobody, so it was probably justified in the end.

He still couldn't believe Marluxia was dead. He couldn't believe it that any of the faded Organization were gone, but they were. Except Roxas, who had gotten to go back to Sora. And Naminé, back in Kairi. Kyra and Karyx should just join up already. That should save some hassle.

But it wasn't anything /he/ had to worry about. He was Under the Sea, Darlin' it's better, down where it's wetter, and at least no one was trying to off him here.

"Don't thank me." Karyx retorted quickly, not even bothering to cast her glance toward Caeda. "I had to do it. He was about to go into another form, which would've killed you all." Then with a little emotion, she watched Demyx run for his life. "That weakling. Marluxia was right, he shouldn't have survived. I really do think it was a fluke..." The bluenette murmured, placing a hand on her hip. "Plus, I'm only helping because she's my Somebody. I don't want her dead. Otherwise, I could've just killed you all. Now I've got to track down Demyx and kick Xemnas's butt." Merely for abandoning her. Some Superior he was. He demanded respect, yet he couldn't even hold a simple three member Organization together. It was purely sad.

Kyra had winced as the cold water splashed her some, wishing it just would've drowned her. "W-wait." She whispered under her breath, watching him leave. Somehow this didn't seem as satisfying as she wanted it to be. In the process of trying to get revenge, she ended up pushing away the one person she truly cared for -- not to mention putting other lives in danger. Despite despising him for the lack of a heart, she somehow still appreciated her own. It was one of those torn-moments. Her brown eyes stared dully at the ground, becoming lifeless. 'What is wrong with me?' She asked herself, resting her face in her hands once again.

"Grah!" Caeda exclaimed as the water splashed over her, running down her armor and soaking her. Not a pleasant sensation. She jerked away from Karyx and pulled her helmet off, shaking the water from her regulation-cut black hair. One glove came off and she wiped her face with her hand, smoothing her hair back and then rubbing her eyes for good measure. Nope, still blind.

"All right, so, Eleven's dead, and others have vacated, right?" she asked, puffing a quick breath through her lips to dislodge the last clinging droplets. "And Karyx did it, so...that's /kinda/ like you did it, I guess. Not really sure how that works. Soooo," she concluded," mission accomplished! Let's go back." She didn't want to stay here any longer. If her helmet weren't soaked through, she would jamb it back on her head immediately. It probably wouldn't make much difference, she reasoned. Besides, she hated to be uncomfortable. Caeda was starting to realize just how spoiled and weak she really was, despite having survived the war as long as she had. It was agitating her, and she wanted to leave and forget the botched mission as quickly as possible. And Kyra freaking out, too, that might be good to let slip from her mind.

Kyra had slowly glanced up to Caeda, grumbling something under her breath. "Why bother go back? If we don't get killed here, we're going to get killed there. Either way, we're going to die." The redhead said flatly, her mood suddenly changing as she realized that all hope was lost. Normally she was the optimistic one. What a bottle of sunshine she was today! Clutching back onto her arm, she had finally stood up. "I say we hunt down Demyx." She finally muttered.

"Hunt him down?" Karyx questioned, before prodding the spike on her mace. "Sounds like a plan to me! So is the sissy blindy girl coming too or are we going to leave her in here with the killer dogs?" That was really a lie. No way a SaVx puppy could be dangerous, right? Of course not!

"Killer dogs? Maybe. But that's not right. She can come too." The redhead forced a smile, listening to a strange, sudden whimper. Her eyes took notice of a small, blue tail poking out from behind the chair. A grin crossed her lips as she ran up fast and tugged on it playfully. The puppy jumped quite high, almost like a cat would, then turned around growling. It was quite adorable to watch it growl; it had this pathetic, insignificant growl. Kyra's face lit up with joy as she started to rub behind its ears, watching it just pant and roll over, obviously being conquered. "Welp, I found a mad killer dog over here," her voice called over from behind the chair, picking up the puppy in victory. It yelped in happiness as she put it on her head with her freehand, -- and well, unhurt arm connected to that hand, etc -- then lay flat on it. It seemed to be having quite a nice time up there.

"So where should we open the portal to?" Karyx asked, eyeing the puppy.

"Hm. Well he wouldn't go to Halloween Town -- that place is too scary," Kyra said, quickly naming off the places where he would never be caught dead at. "Twilight Town might be a possibility, so would Traverse. The Underworld is another Demyx no-no, as would be Port Royal and blah. Heck, let's go to Atlantica!" The youth grinned. That was the first place they went to together and actually had fun at. Ah, she remembered it like it were yesterday. Plus, he'd probably think that if he went somewhere obvious they wouldn't think of that obvious place and check in an unobvious spot! Thus, she decided on Atlantica.

"Atlantica, that sushi spot? You sure?" The bluenette mumbled.

"Yes. I'm sure." The redhead chuckled quite ... evilly?

Caeda sobered at the idea of dying no matter what they did, but shifted her expression into her accustomed wry smirk at the sound of the puppy's bark. "Maybe I'll take my chances with the killer dogs. I could probably take /them/. But, I said I'd follow you, Kyra, so you're stuck with me." She pulled off her other glove and began to strip off each section of her armor. Atlantica was a world of water, and she was not about to travel there in full defensive getup. She heaved a sigh of relief as she dropped off the chest plate, rolling her shoulders and feeling the suspenders (she'd been told they were red, as suspenders should be) slide over the edges of her collar bone. She was not sorry to part with the armor, leaving it in a big pile right beside her. "And lucky you, I can swim."

Kyra had watched Caeda remove her armor for a second, then stared down at her own armor. The girl had the right idea. But then again, wouldn't they change when they got there? The part she despised most about that water world. Eh, it'd be okay. As long as her fins didn't turn into metal hunks, and she got a top, she'd be fine.

"Hurry up, you ninnies!" Karyx shouted loudly and opened up the portal, not wasting any time to jump straight into it. She fancied the idea of being a mermaid with long, silky hair and a pretty, sparkly fin. Who put what in her drink?

"Well, it looks like our commander sent you to follow a crazy woman." Kyra had joked, eyeing her arm. That was kind of healing as they spoke; probably another reason why she stayed alive so long. "Heh, lucky me. I learned how to swim. I could've swore we were trained to do that, or is that for the Navy? Eh, oh well." She then shrugged and dragged Caeda into the portal.


End file.
